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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2015
Bridges: Quakes are a threat to many of the older bridges
Readying for
the big one
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cient, but also not meeting cur-
rent design standards for their
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The report on Oregon’s
bridges, issued earlier this
month, was based on Fed-
eral Highway Administra-
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reach agreement on a new
$343 million transportation
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lars of need to go out and ret-
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Oregon Department of Trans-
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to increase their capacity to
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all 2,700 of Oregon’s bridg-
es on a 100-year cycle, twice
the usual lifetime recom-
mended for many, the depart-
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replaces one or two a year,
he said, focusing limited re-
sources on repair rather than
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the replacement of Asto-
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“It was getting to the point
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said Lance Clark, a construc-
tion inspector working on the
project, adding many of the
bolts in the bridge’s substruc-
ture had rusted and were fall-
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bridge will be sturdier, Clark
said, using a single span, big-
ger girders and anchoring of
each approach to the bridge
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
People watch from the West Broadway Bridge as a paddleboat floats down the Necanicum River.
into stronger geologic forma-
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A three-year, $16 million
rehabilitation project is re-
placing and strengthening
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101 underneath the 91-year-
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listed in the report as func-
tionally obsolete, and the
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ager with the ODOT, said the
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some wooden pilings with
steel, while wrapping oth-
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jackets to protect from rot,
a common issue with bridge
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The Lewis and Clark
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ished by Labor Day week-
end, while work should start
by the end of this year on
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of weeks, True said, he and
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will start scoping the bridge-
work needed on the 63-year-
old Highway 101 crossing
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faces many of the same is-
sues with wooden pilings
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berg, the managing engineer
of ODOT’s bridge preser-
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ing work will help decide if
the bridge is included in the
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Plan, a triennial priority list
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ects in Clatsop County are
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from corrosion protection on
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more painting on the Asto-
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street ends along the Astoria
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A relic
The 91-year-old West
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the four major structurally
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the busiest in Seaside, han-
dling more than 6,000 cars a
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Seaside Public Works Di-
rector Neal Wallace said the
department has prioritized
limited resources based on
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“That bridge is not part of
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lace said, adding that it looks
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cy rating but plays a smaller
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While Seaside is interest-
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and keeping the bridge’s his-
toric character, he said the
city has put a lot of effort into
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southern Seaside and more
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He said a project is almost
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cost about $4 million to re-
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replace street ends on the As-
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Seaside has not been able to
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The Oregon Department
of Transportation issued the
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last October, which found
that most western Oregon
bridges between Oregon
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way 101 face serious damage
or destruction in the wake
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Cascadia Subduction Zone
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The report estimates a
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addition, more than 1,100
landslides and rockfalls need
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added that many bridges, in-
cluding the Astoria, Highway
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ground beneath them during
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While the state does not
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cantly implement the report’s
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said, the information pro-
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ODOT’s seismic report
recommends starting an in-
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Washington state and Cali-
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starting with the most pop-
ulous transit corridors han-
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The Transportation for
America report recommends
increasing federal support
for transportation through
the highway trust fund, pri-
oritizing maintenance, tying
transportation funding to
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communities more access to
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ica’s report on Oregon’s
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com
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That bill died in commit-
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ly had a chilling effect at the
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enforcing pricing and other
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agency, was reluctant to say
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deals since mid-2012 were
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credit sales to follow state
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always set the purchase prices
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ley, the energy agency’s chief
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documentation to clarify how
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ternal memorandum that de-
scribed how the Department
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tails of why the agency decid-
ed to make the change, but he
noted that there was pressure
from the owner of at least one
energy project who wanted
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Department of Justice and
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a written legal opinion, the
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department was that the type
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practices at the time, in part
because it wasn’t seen as a pol-
icy shift; it was a reaction to
the challenges recipients were
facing in transferring their
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igence, to make sure an ap-
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gy has not offered a detailed
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stop enforcing the price con-
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plans to hold a public meeting
June 30 on the process to make
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9 units (6 large) for sale
